As mission continues, CBCP head calls to include ‘those on fringes’

The Philippine Catholic Church on Sunday officially ended its celebration of the quincentenary of Christianity in the Philippines by emphasizing the need for the Church to turn towards the fringes of society.

Echoing Pope Francis, the episcopal conference’s president, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, said that the church does not even have to go distant places to engage in mission.

“The ones we are sent to might not even be very far from us— they are around us, in the peripheries,” David said in his homily during the closing Mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

“We are never to allow it to happen that those kept at the fringes of society are also kept at the fringes of the Church,” he said.

Citing the Catholic social teachings, he said the only “civilization” that Christians should aim to build is something that “aims to raise our level of humanity” by caring for the poor and the vulnerable.

There is nothing Christian, according to him, in works that exclude the majority and treat the poor like “disposable trash”.

“In a truly humane society we are mindful of the common good; we protect and empower the weakest. Everyone matters. It is what being in mission means,” David said.

The last week of the year-long celebration was capped with the virtual 2nd National Mission Congress in two parts: the International Missiology Symposium and the National Mission Forum.

Among those who graced the Mass were 12 bishops, including Archbishop Charles Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, and Bishop Socrates Mesiona, head of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Mission.

The Vatican envoy encouraged the faithful “to keep our faith strong” and share it to other places in the world.

He also paid tribute to the parents “who give the light and life of the Catholic faith to their children”.

“There are no more important missionaries than fathers and mothers,” Brown said. “So, parents, grandparents, remember that you are missionaries in the most profound sense of the world.”

The gathering was also highlighted with the mission-send off rites for 5 priests, 5 religious women and several members of lay group Couples for Christ who are off to various missions in the Philippines and overseas.

The missionaries were also conferred with a “mission cross” by the papal nuncio. (CBCP News)

A version of this article was first published by CBCP News.